Twilight 2000 2nd Edition/1997
On New Year's Day, NATO announces its support for a Polish government in exile ** Most of the Polish army remains loyal to the central government, and open resistance is soon crushed ** An underground movement begins forming. By spring, guerilla bands start to harass Warsaw Pact convoys and installations * Turkish success in Bulgaria sparks a wave of patriotism * On Cyprus, Turkish Cypriots demonstrate in favour of Turkey. The demonstrations turn into anti-Greek riots ** The Cypriot army moves to restore order ** The Turkish army invades Cyprus in response, and quickly occupies most of the island ** Greece sends military units to Cyprus, then declares war on Turkey and attacks Turkish forces in Thrace * Italy and Greece sign a mutual defence pact ** The pact does not oblige Italy to help in the war against Turkey. However, Italy declares the war to be unrelated to the more general war, promising to intervene on Greece's side if NATO enters the war on Turkey's side ** Greece declares a naval blockade against Turkey, and warns that the Aegean is considered a war zone * Soviet and Czech troops go on the offensive in southern Germany, but make few gains * In spring, the first German troops cross into Poland ** By 17th June, Warsaw is surrounded, and prepares for a siege * NATO's Atlantic fleet hunts down the last of the Soviet commerce raiders ** The surviving attack carriers and missile cruisers move to the north Atlantic ** US and British units attempt a rapid outflanking move through northern Finland, while the NATO Atlantic Fleet closes on Murmansk and Severomorsk * The Finnish army puts up far more resistance than expected, delaying the flanking movement ** The remains of the Red Banner Northern Fleet inflicts crippling losses on NATO's Atlantic Fleet * The front in Romania stabilises ** Soviet mobilisation-only divisions start to arrive on the front ** By May, the Turkish advance into Bulgaria has been halted, with the help of Soviet reinforcements * On 27th June, a NATO convoy attempts the run to the Turkish port of Izmir ** The Greek navy intercepts the convoy and inflicts substantial losses ** NATO retaliates with air strikes against Greek naval bases ** On 1st July, Greece declares war against the NATO nations. Italy follows suit the next day * In early July, Italian airmobile and alpine troops cross into Tyrol. The Austrian army resists but is overwhelmed ** By mid-July Italian mechanised forces are in combat with German troops in Munich * The Yugoslavian army launches an offensive against north-east Italy, but this soon stalls ** Italy responds with a major counter-offensive which smashes the Yugoslavian forces * After a series of border clashes, war breaks out between pro-Soviet India and anti-Soviet Pakistan in the spring ** By mid-year the Indian army is advancing across the length of the front, despite stiff resistance * In early July, the Polish government in exile sets up a temporary capital in Poznan, asserting its claim to the pre-1939 borders * In the Far East, Warsaw Pact forces begin withdrawing all along the front * On 9th July, advance elements of the 1st German Army are in the Soviet Union. The Soviets start using tactical nuclear weapons ** In the West, they are used sparingly at first, while in the Far East they are used on a much bigger scale ** Chinese reprisals are less effective, since the Soviet troops are better prepared, and ballistic missile attacks are stopped by an effective ABM system ** After a week, the Chinese have no more nuclear weapons, but Soviet attacks continue. The Chinese communication and transportation system collapses ** Chinese refugees flee the cities, and China starts to slide into anarchy and civil disorder * In the West, both NATO and Warsaw Pact forces are hit hard by tactical nuclear strikes, as NATO responds in kind to the Soviet use of nuclear weapons * In late August, the first of the Soviet divisions released from the Far East arrives in the West * On 15th September, the siege of Warsaw is lifted * A week later, Czech and Italian troops start an offensive in southern Germany ** As the offensive gathers pace, NATO falls back from Poland, practising a scorched earth policy * Soviet use of tactical nuclear weapons in Thrace breaks the stalemate. Bulgarian and Soviet forces start advancing * Greek and Albanian forces launch attacks against southern Yugoslavia, and the Yugoslavian army starts to break up * Yugoslavian forces in Romania are recalled, but Belgrade falls to Italian forces before it can return * The Romanian front collapses and Warsaw Pact columns sweep through both Romania and Yugoslavia. In both countries, military units withdraw into the mountains and start to wage a guerilla war * NATO starts making deep nuclear strikes against communication hubs to try and slow the Warsaw Pact advance ** The Warsaw Pact responds with similar strikes against German industrial targets and major ports ** NATO's theatre nuclear weapons are launched against industrial targets and port cities in the western Soviet Union ** The exchanges continue and gradually increase throughout October * ICBMs start being used, initially against military targets, then industrial targets vital to the war effort, followed by economic targets of military importance (transportation, communication, oil fields and refineries) ** Later, major industrial and oil centres in neutral countries are targeted, to prevent their use by the other side ** Logistical stockpiles and command & control centres are targeted ** The civilian political command structure is decimated, then eliminated (not always deliberately) ** Nuclear exchanges continue throughout November before slowly petering out * Facing defeat, Pakistan launched a pre-emptive strike on India's economic sites and nuclear strike force ** Industrial centres are hit hard, but enough of India's nuclear arsenal survives to launch a massive retaliatory strike ** The Indo-Pakistan war dies down, as each country can no longer feed its people, and certainly cannot supply military units